sportscastingfandomcom-20200215-history
Kenny Albert
Kenny Albert (born February 2, 1968) is an American sportscaster, the son of sportscaster Marv Albert and the nephew of sportscasters Al Albert and Steve Albert. He is the only sportscaster who currently does play-by-play for all four major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada (NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL). Early life Albert's parents gave him a tape recorder for his fifth birthday to practice his broadcasting.1 On his sixth birthday in 1974, his father took him along to a New York Rangers game. One of the statisticians had to leave in the middle of the game, so Albert got to do the stats for the rest of the game. At 14, he became the official statistician for the Rangers on the radio. At 16, he wrote content for the Rangers program. Aside from his father, his idol was Vancouver Canucks play-by-play broadcaster Jim Robson. From 1981 to 1986, Albert, growing up in Sands Point, covered high school sports for the Port Washington News at Paul D. Schreiber High School, an Anton Community Newspapers publication.2 Albert graduated from New York University3 in 19904 with a degree in broadcasting and journalism. Albert worked in the sports department at WNYU radio. He is a frequent guest on WNYU's sports talk program, The Cheap Seats. He has also made many appearances on the popular New York sports internet radio show Sports Heaven with Mark and Evan.5 Broadcasting career Albert is the radio voice of the New York Rangers, as well as a play-by-play announcer for Fox's coverage of MLB, NFL, and previously, the Sugar Bowl. Previously, he handled TV play-by-play for the Washington Capitals and Washington Bullets (now the Washington Wizards), and was a part-time announcer on Washington Nationals telecasts in 2005. Additionally, he does TV play-by-play for Washington Redskins preseason games with Joe Theismann.6 Albert called the international broadcast of Super Bowl XLVI with Theismann. When Fox had the network contract for the National Hockey League in the 1990s, Albert also worked on NHL on FOX telecasts. Albert now does play-by-play for the NHL on NBC and formerly with Versus (now called NBCSN). Albert called Game 1 of the 2014 Stanley Cup Finals for NBC, filling in for Doc Emrick, who was dealing with a death in the family. He has done work for NBC's Olympics coverage, as a play-by-play announcer for men's and women's ice hockey at every Winter Olympic Games since Salt Lake City in 2002. Albert has also done college basketball for ESPN Plus and is a substitute play-by-play announcer for televised New York Knicks games on MSG Network. For the 2011 playoffs, Albert broadcast for two playoff teams in the same market, doing the play-by-play for the New York Rangers on WEPN 1050 ESPN radio and filling in on MSG Network doing play-by-play for the New York Knicks. Albert is known to some Chicago sports fans as "The Kiss of Death" to their teams. Many games involving the Bears and Blackhawks with Albert announcing have ended in losses for both teams. Examples include Game 7 of the 2014 Western Conference Final between the Blackhawks and Kings, and many Chicago Bears' games with Albert announcing since 2004. Albert was the lead play-by-play announcer for the 2015 American League Division Series between the Texas Rangers and the Toronto Blue Jays. In the top of the 7th inning of Game 5, he helped explain the rule regarding the errant throw by Toronto Blue Jays catcher Russell Martin, which resulted in Texas scoring the go-ahead run. In the bottom of the inning, he called Jose Bautista's go-ahead home run. In 2016, Albert was nominated for the Sports Emmy Award for Outstanding Sports Personality, Play-by-Play in a list that included fellow NFL on Fox announcer Kevin Burkhardt, fellow NHL announcer and eventual winner Mike Emrick, and even his own father. 4 sports in 4 days On October 25, 2009, Albert called the play-by-play of the Minnesota Vikings – Pittsburgh Steelers NFL game for Fox and then hosted the New York Yankees' locker room celebration after clinching the American League Championship Series that night. The following night he broadcast a Rangers game on radio and on October 28, he called the play-by-play of the New York Knicks season opener on MSG. Personal life Kenny Albert currently resides in New Jersey with his wife for 20 years, Barbara, and their two daughters, Amanda and Sydney. Albert was introduced to his wife by close friend and Baltimore sports reporter, Jerry Coleman. Career timeline * 1990–1992: Baltimore Skipjacks – play-by-play * 1992–1995: Washington Capitals – play-by-play on Home Team Sports * 1993–1994: NHL on ESPN2 – play-by-play * 1994–1995, 2016–present: NHL Radio – lead play-by-play * 1994–present: NFL on Fox – play-by-play (2007–2013, #2 announcer) * 1995–1999: NHL on Fox – play-by-play4 * 1995–present: New York Rangers – radio play-by-play * 1999–2000: NTRA on Fox – host * 2001–present: Major League Baseball on Fox – play-by-play * 2002: Winter Olympics – hockey play-by-play * 2005: Washington Nationals – fill-in television play-by-play * 2005–2006: NHL on OLN – play-by-play * 2006: Winter Olympics – hockey play-by-play * 2007–2009: Sugar Bowl – play-by-play * 2009–present: New York Knicks – fill-in television play-by-play * 2010: Winter Olympics – hockey play-by-play * 2010–present: Washington Redskins Broadcast Network – preseason play-by-play * 2011: NHL on Versus – playoffs play-by-play * 2012–present: NHL on NBC – play-by-play * 2014: Winter Olympics – hockey play-by-play * 2018: Winter Olympics – hockey play-by-play Broadcasting partners * Troy Aikman * Rod Allen * Brian Baldinger * Ronde Barber * Brian Boucher * Terry Bradshaw * Sean Casey * Rick Cerone * Brian Engblom * Cliff Floyd * Walt "Clyde" Frazier * Joe Girardi * Mark Grace * Tim Green * Tim Hutchings * Daryl Johnston * Eric Karros * Howie Long * Steve Lyons * Dave Maloney * Tim McCarver * Pierre McGuire * Joe Micheletti * Anthony Muñoz * Chris Myers * CJ Nitkowski * Eddie Olczyk * A.J. Pierzynski * Lou Pinella * Ron Pitts * Harold Reynolds * Ken Rosenthal * Tony Siragusa * Joe Theismann * Jeff Torborg * Tom Verducci